I woke up with goose-bumps crawling over me. I shuddered at the coldness in my room. Pulling the covers around me, I started to search for my phone, which was somewhere on my bed. My hand brushed against an ice cold object with a smooth surface.
Bingo.
Whipping it from its hiding spot, I brought it to my face to check the time.
7:47 a.m
Too early. Back to sleep.
I shut my eyes and gave my mind permission to shut off. Next thing I knew, my phone was buzzing.
I peeked one eye open to look at the notification.
wake up lazy – Ally
I groaned, knowing this is her way of letting me know that she has plans to shop until her arms fall off. Well, our arms.
Im not going anywhere today, just letting you know – Grace
oh yes you are! im already here as a matter of fact - Ally
Liar - Grace
am not - Ally
Are too - Grace
well i wont be lying in a few hours so GET READY OR ILL DRAG YOU OUT BY THE ROOTS - Ally
We’ll see - Grace
I smiled at her empty threat and rolled around to get more comfortable. That didn’t go as planned since I rolled to far and fell off my bed. I didn’t hit the ground hard because my carpet was really thick.
And soft.
Before I knew it, I fell asleep again.
~
“HONEY, I’M HOME!”
I almost pooped my pants and had a seizure waking up to the shrill scream. I would’ve fallen off the bed, but you know… floors and stuff.
Groaning, I roll under my bed.
Maybe if I hide, the intruder won’t find me.
I attempt to breathe quieter as I hear the soft padding of feet walking to my room. I know those footsteps anywhere. She’s going to kill me.
“I know you’re in here, ladybug.” She says as she opens my door.
Do not move, Grace.
“I can hear you think.”
No you can’t liar!
“Come out, come out wherever you are.” Ally drawled out her words.
NEVER!
“I sense that you’re not ready.”
She’ll never catch me.
“And when I find you…” Her feet circle my bed and stop at the end, “… you’re going to wish you were dressed.”
I watched as her legs started bending until her knees were on the ground. Her palms were pressed firmly against the floor as her head crept down, too.
“Gotcha.” She stated as we held a little stare off.
“Not quite.” I smirked as my hand grabbed whatever was next to me, which happened to be a flip-flop I’ve been looking for, for quite some time now.
Ally squealed in surprise and for the fact that it might have hurt in some way. This was clearly a signal to roll out from under my bed and make a run for the door. However, that didn’t go as planned.
She was already up and sprinting towards me before I even stood up properly. Next thing I knew, I was being slammed to bed. As a simple act of retaliation, I believe I shoved her lightly off of me. I couldn’t be too sure thought because as soon as I was free, I made a mad dash to exit my room. I didn’t turn around when I heard a thud and a grunt.
That was probably the wrong move because I heard sort of a warrior cry mixed with a “WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU-”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I tripped my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. I wasn’t laughing for too long due to the fact of the extremely, inhumanly fast footsteps slamming their way down each step.
Now my adrenaline was the only thing I could feel, aside from my erratic heartbeat from the excess movement I’ve allowed myself to do today.
Everything slowed down when the wild eyed, red face monster came into view. I’m not sure how it all played out because next thing I knew I was being placed in a half-nelson with a very menacing spork digging in my back.
“DO YOU SURRENDER GRACIE RODGERS?” She screeched in my ear.
“AM I EVER ONE FOR SURRENDERING?” I cried back.
I felt a swift breeze as she let me go but grabbed my shoulder with her free hand.
“Come on sister, out.” She said as she started to poke me with the spork. And it was not pleasant. It was like being pricked in your ticklish spot. It didn’t hurt but it’s not one of the greatest feelings.
“I’m going to have little red dents in my back if you don’t stop.”
“Good, then you’ll remember this next time.” She started to maneuver me until I was back in my room.
I took a seat on my bed and she headed over to my closet.
“What are you gonna waste your money on this time?”
She gasped and turned to face me. “How dare you!”
“What did I-”
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“I don’t think so-”
“You got some nerve-”
“ALLY! What is your reasoning for shopping today?”
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t know what?”
“You really don’t know?”
“Know what?!”
“Wow you really don’t know…” She turned her attention back to my closet and threw a black shirt and some destroyed jeans at me.
“No I really don’t know. Now tell me.” I all but begged. Ally always did this when I didn’t know about something that she would find extremely important.
“Avery’s having a party tonight.”
“That’s the big news? He throws a party almost every other day.”
“Number one, he barely throws a party. He just goes to everyone else's. Number two, since he’s practically your mentor, I’m making you attend this extravagant get-together.”
“I don’t want to go and he’s not my ‘mentor,’ he’s just helping me with things that you thought I would l like to have help in. Hence the fact that I didn’t want to be set up with the arrangement deal anyway.”
Just as I finished, my phone buzzed. I fished for it under my messy bed. Once I got a hold of it, I unlocked my phone and checked the notification.
“Speak of the devil…” I murmured when I saw it was from Avery.
“Aw, it’s fate.” Ally clapped. “What did he say?”
“Um…”
No lessons today, sweetheart. I know ur diassapointed but I’ll make it up to you when u come to my party tonight – Avery
“Um what.” She came over and read the text.
Wrong move.
She squealed in my ear and I swear, I almost went deaf.
“Now we are definitely going shopping!”
“Uh, no. That doesn’t mean I’m gonna go.”
“If Avery wants you there, then there is where you must be.”
“If Avery jumped off of a bridge and wanted me to jump with him, would you want me to?” I raised my eyebrow at her.
“Of course!” She exclaimed while I gave her an are-you-serious face. “But I’ll have you both strapped and set with bungee cords.”
Rolling my eyes, I took the clothes that were covering me and went to take a shower.
This was going to be a long day.
~
“Okay, how does this look?” Ally said for the tenth time.
“Amazing.” I said while I played 2048 on my phone. I stopped giving my honest opinion after the third outfit. My energy and patience were draining by the minute. No, by the second.
“Will you pay attention?” She said as she snatched the phone out of my grasp.
“Honestly, I can’t. Each item of clothing along with the same question over and over again, fries my brain more than you can imagine. My attention can no longer be given. And I was beating my high score!”
“7460? That’s it? That’s the big millionaire prize? My brother has a higher score than you and I’m sure he doesn’t even know how to play.”
“Hey!” I grabbed my phone back, “no need to be rude and insult your brother’s intelligence.”
“What intelligence?” She snorted.
“I… well… true.”
“But seriously, Gracie, does this look good or not? It’s important.”
“It looks good okay? Just like that last fifty you tried on.”
“Ugh! You’re impossible!”
“Just buy something.”
“We need to find you something first.”
“I already told you I’m not going.”
“And I don’t care. Go find something that’s acceptable while I change out of this.”
I groan and walk through the racks of neon colored, over-the-top pieces of cloth no one should consider appropriate. It was better I do the shopping for myself rather than Ally. If I leave this up to her, next thing I know I’ll be wearing these scraps.
Walking deeper into the store, I find a section that catches my eye. Not because it had multi colors, but because of the lack of it.
I headed towards a rack of dark blues, greens and reds. All of them were dresses but the designs were different. I took a color of each and examined.
The blue was a long sleeve, body-con dress with a scooped neck line.
The green was short sleeves, with a sweetheart neck line and lace covering the top.
The red was sleeveless, with a crossover back and a bow.
All were the same length, a few inches above the knee.
I looked for my size and headed back to the changing room section. Ally’s door was open so she was either looking for more clothes, buying hers or, hopefully not, looking for party attire for me.
I stood by the entrance and waited for the monitor to direct me to a room.
“How many items do you have?”
“Three.”
“Okay, one moment.” The lady said and walked into Ally’s room. She returned with clothes that she must have left. The lady put them on the cart outside the rooms and pointed to the open one.
“Thanks.” I said.
I quickly shimmied out of my clothes and into the green dress.
It looked nice to say the most, but I didn’t like having the lace against my skin. For some reason it was really itching.
I replaced it with the blue dress.
Eh, no. Long sleeves plus potential party means sweating all night and if I can avoid sweating, you better believe I will.
Lastly, I tried on the red one.
I secretly wished this one would look the best since I thought it was the cutest. I did a three-sixty and admired how the back looked. I always wanted a dress like this from the very first moment I saw it online on Forever 21.
The gap from the bow down wasn’t as big as it looked online. It was from a little below my shoulders to my middle back. I couldn’t help but feel the urge to take a changing room picture.
Haha, but I didn’t because Ally was shouting my name from the other side.
“Gracie! Which room are you in?”
Instead of answering, I opened the door to hear her gasp.
“Oh my gosh, it’s freaking perfect.” She gushed.
“Really? I tried on two others-”
“You tried on other dresses? I kind of want to be mad at you, but I’m proud.”
“Why?” I laughed.
“I’m upset because I wanted to see how you looked in the other ones but I’m proud because you picked out decent dresses all by yourself. You’re growing up.” She fake cried towards the end.
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll get this one, I didn’t like how the others looked.
“Okay, hurry and get changed. We have to shoe shop, too.”
I mentally groaned and returned to my little clothes swapping sanctuary. I quickly undressed, then redressed and exited the room.
I handed the lady the green and blue dress, and made my way to the cashier.
Ally and I put our stuff on the counter and paid. After finishing, she practically dragged me out of the store to the closest sky high heels.
“I’m definitely not wearing anything that makes me taller.”
“Why not? You look amazing and taller, so that’s an extra ‘amazing.’”
“Because if we’re going to the party, I’m not wearing them all night and I most certainly am not taking my shoes off.”
“Psh, whatever cheese toes.”
I gasped at her wrongful nickname. “I do not have cheese toes. You take that back.”
“I’ll take it back when I believe it needs to be.”
“I hate you.” I grumble out.
“Love you too, ladybug.” She smiles and pulls me into a store so fast, I almost had a whiplash.
~
“Never again am I shopping with you.” I breathe out after Ally and I return to my humble abode.
“You said that last time.” She says as she carries her handful of bags up the stairs.
“And I’ll keep saying it until I stick to my word.” I follow after her, trying to get some oxygen and talk at once.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only reason why she wanted to have me attend Avery’s party. She basically wanted a wing-man, well a wing-girl. Ally said that she’s been eyeing this guy for a few days now and wants to make her move. So that consisted of her buying a whole new outfit. Undergarments included.
“Yeah, you said that, too. And why are you breathing so heavy, the walk wasn’t that long.”
If you may remember, I mentioned that sweating is something I would avoid. That also included any physical activity that would trigger this, hence my laziness. However, this was unavoidable. Due to the lack of legal parking on my street, Ally had to park about five, very, extremely long blocks down. We might as well have walked from the mall.
And on top of that, not only am I carrying my purchases, but I’m also carrying some of Ally’s.
Are you surprised?
Don’t be.
“Maybe it would be faster to catch my breath if I wasn’t holding unnecessary items.”
“They are not unnecessary.” She huffed and kicked my door open.
“Hey! Watch it. There won’t be a door left if you keep kicking it.”
“Let’s talk about something important.”
“Is my door not important?”
“Not right now no.”
“So what’s so important?”
“We must have a game plan. It’s 4:13 now, so we’ll get ready starting from five or six then we’ll get to the party at nine.”
“Why so late?”
“Because that’s when everybody should be there. Nobody is going to be there on time and if more people come in after eleven, then they’re looking for trouble or coming from another party.”
“And how would you know this.”
“You stay out late and meet some people. Things happen.”
“Okay, weirdo. So what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Let’s order pizza.”
“Half and half?”
“Yup.”
And that’s how my day went.
I just can’t wait for the party tonight.
Can’t you hear my enthusiasm? No?
Good, because there wasn’t any there.
.
.
.
.
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Well sorry for the long wait, but i hope it was worth it in a way???? You feel me?
Ummmm idk what to say ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
I felt like I was riding a horse while writing that.
But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter so far, it's the longest one yet and if there's any mistakes, feel free to point them out.
Love yaaaaa
Jessica